Assessment & Research

Brief Behavioral Knowledge Questionnaire: Measuring Change in Caregiver's Knowledge Following Participation in a Brief Behavioral Training

Stern et al. (2017) · Behavioral Interventions 2017
★ The Verdict

A 20-item quiz can quickly show if parents learned the ABA basics you just taught.

✓ Read this if BCBAs running short caregiver classes in clinics or schools.
✗ Skip if Teams already using long knowledge tests or who train only staff.

01Research in Context

01

What this study did

The team built a 20-question quiz called the Brief Behavioral Knowledge Questionnaire.

They gave it to caregivers before and after a short ABA class.

No control group—just a quick check to see if scores moved.

02

What they found

Caregivers scored higher on the quiz after the class.

The quiz itself held together well—items hung together like a good probe.

03

How this fits with other research

Fisher et al. (2020) ran a virtual parent class and saw big skill jumps; the BBKQ could track those gains in one sheet.

LaBrot et al. (2022) taught parents in a group and saw real-life skill carry-over; the BBKQ gives a fast knowledge snapshot before that heavier training.

Mount et al. (2011) warned that parents often drop strategies even after passing tests; pairing the BBKQ with later fidelity checks could catch this slip.

04

Why it matters

You now have a 2-minute tool that shows whether your caregiver workshop actually planted key facts.

Use it at intake, after training, and at follow-up to spot who needs a booster.

It’s free, short, and beats guessing if parents walked away with the basics.

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→ Action — try this Monday

Hand the BBKQ to every parent before and after your next 1-hour intro class.

02At a glance

Intervention
not applicable
Design
pre post no control
Sample size
20
Population
not specified
Finding
positive

03Original abstract

Behavioral caregiver training programs are extensively used interventions, based on empirical research and applied concepts of behavior. As these interventions become more widespread in use across settings for various populations, the availability of efficient methods to evaluate program effectiveness is crucial. Currently, there is a lack of widely used and psychometrically sound measurement tools to assess change in caregivers' knowledge of behavioral principles following participation in such training. In the current study, we assessed change in caregivers' knowledge of behavioral principles following participation in a caregiver training based on the principles of Applied Behavior Analysis. Twenty caregivers participated in the evaluation, which included pre‐ and post‐Brief Behavioral Knowledge Questionnaire (BBKQ) completed before and after participation in a brief behavioral training (BBT). The measurement was found to have good internal consistency. Results also show that following participation in the BBT, caregivers' initial knowledge of behavioral principles increased significantly. The results suggest that the BBKQ may be a useful tool in detecting changes in caregiver's knowledge of behavior principles following BBT. Limitation and future directions are discussed. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Behavioral Interventions, 2017 · doi:10.1002/bin.1454